Shalin Jain's little red couch: Heaven - 12,400ft above sea level!


« Darling, darjeeling on my mind \| Main \| The teller of tales - Preetam Rai » Heaven - 12,400ft above sea level! Three days had elapsed since we began our journey to east. We probably had no clue of what Gangtok had in the offing. We cleared the security check point to enter Sikkim. Foreign nationals have to report to all such check-post. Military was all over the place. Roads were well made, traffic was highly disciplined, people would use foot-over to cross road and pavement to walk. Everything looked in place as we slowly got closer to the town. Gangtok is about 5,800 feet above sea level. Gangtok has a regular helicopter service not just to get there but to sight see the majestic peaks and the valleys. I was thrilled but we had different plans. We went around the place the same evening in a taxi driven by 20 year old guy - bheem. He was very humble and was helping us by carrying the tripod everywhere we went. At Ganesh Tok, Gangtok. We headed for Changu Lake the next day. Changu lake is a 40km uphill from gangtok at about 12,400ft. It took us about 90 minutes to get there. Every curve, every view on our way up there was truly exotic. We were spellbound when we reached Changu lake. It should have been around -3 , -5 Deg. C. The lake was frozen! Changu Lake - Heaven! We then hired some jackets & snow boots and got on a yak. Chotu (Yak's name - He is just 4 years old.) The yak took us to the other side of the lake. I had put Karthik in a FIX! After almost an hour of wandering in snow we headed back to eat a bit. The road side shop had veg. momos and Chowmien. The most delicious Chowmien I have ever had! We had to head back - we wanted to spend more time and actually head towards the Natula pass to see the China border - we just didn't have enough time. We left gangtok and headed back to Silliguri. I was very satisfied and enthralled. Gangtok - I'll be right back! Click here for more pictures. Posted by shalin at April 10, 2004 01:20 AM \| TrackBack \| Permanent Link Comments Coooool, we really did enjoy at Gangtok. In fact it is the best place I have ever been.. How about Sri Lanka ... next month dude ?! Posted by: Karthik at April 10, 2004 11:11 AM Your Chowmien pic is amazing. The color, lighting and the twinkle in your eye; it is almost a perfect photograph (I have no knowledge of photography but I have seen photos. yea.) Also, there's a pale-yellow glow on your face dont know if it is the Chowmien or light or the filter you'd used. Great pic! Posted by: suman at April 10, 2004 05:48 PM Hi Stumbled on your site while looking for 'Sikkim blogs' on Google. Am planning to go there soon. Wondering if you could tell me about decent hotels to stay in, budget, etc. Not treating you as a travel agent, but I always trust personal accounts better. Thank you Posted by: Vijayalaxmi at June 20, 2005 04:03 PM the frozen lake must have been some `chill` . u must go to ladakh! Posted by: rashi at June 24, 2005 11:59 PM Hello I am developing a site www.sikkimyst.com a site dedicated to Sikkim as a tourist destination. In my search, i landed up on your travelogue and pictures. They are indeed fabulous. I wonder If i would be bale to use them. Would need your approval, if so, could you have it forwarded. The ones on blog are smaller in frame. Regards Posted by: milind pappu at September 16, 2005 01:56 PM Hi Friends, Its a great thing to read the details of your Sikkim tour. I have never been there. But feel a crazy attraction to go there. I am planning to go there in November 2005. Two of my Indonesian friends want to come with me. I heard that there is a lot of restrictions from Indians as well as for the foreigners to visit Sikkim. I am also reluctant to contact any travel agent for this as they always try to make everything very Hi-Fi so that they can do some business. I have no problem with that but we will be very budgeted. We can't go for any luxurious trip. So could you guys give me some tips how to get this permits without involving any agents. We are interested to visit Gangtok and Changu lake site. you can write to me sujit.chakraborty@gmail.com Sujit Posted by: Sujit Chakraborty at September 21, 2005 12:50 PM Post a comment Name: Email Address: URL: Remember personal info? YesNo Comments:	I, Me & Myself... I am an entrepreneur heading a team of geeks (can't call myself one). Hobbies: photography, piano, guitar, tennis, poetry, cartooning, cooking, day dreaming, ghazals, travelling, watching animation movies and many more. Want to learn: snow boarding, in-line skates, skate board, C++, german, french and squash. Travelled: Singapore, Switzerland Let's talk about... 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